GIVE IT A WHIRL

At the end of 2025, I decided to try my hand at creative writing. After a quick Google search on how to structure a short story, I mapped out the setting, the characters, and the plot. Then I began scribbling onto the paper.

Much like creating visual art, the story seemed to pour out of me onto the page. The process felt completely natural, but it was also all-consuming. Naughty as it may sound, I even started skipping my strict yoga practice because I was afraid I might lose the thread of inspiration.

My sister Celia, one of the most avid readers in the family, generously corrected my spelling and grammar before my 300,000-word manuscript was shared with a few select friends and family. To everyone who has read it, thank you.

So what is it about? Why did I write it? And who is it for?

I hope those questions spark a little curiosity. The title, SWAMPLAND, may reveal more than I intend. For now, I will simply leave you with a short excerpt from one chapter, along with a handful of the accompanying illustrations.

I have not illustrated Samuel the seal pup yet, but I hope you enjoy meeting a few of the other characters.

“Cafe visitor causes heart attack”. Everyone knew of this news story. The problem was it had given fur seals a bad name. Samuel seal pup hadn't meant any harm when he padded through the back door. The truth was he was in heaven. It had rained so much that his usual play pen had become much bigger. The water temperature certainly had been fluctuating lately, but 1080 corkscrews, and air-to-fakie to surf-break-wakies were so much easier to pull off with the extra absorption room. He had never meant to give anyone a FRIGHT but the lure of the ‘half pipe’ water race was TOO much to resist.

The tabloids had named him Samuel. Whatever that sound meant. So Samuel seal pup it was. He had made the wrong turn and had ended up in the Tāne bathroom, inside the first toilet cubicle. How was he to know he would end up there? He was just after some salmon. For some reason the delectable fish had changed their pathways and weren't swimming through the colony's usual fishing spots, and cafes apparently magically served it. “So where is the ark! ark! Is the kitchen?” This cafe did not seem at all majestic.